The Heart of His Lair (MSP #1)

Chapter 3

      Once inside the house, Zia turned to Ross, “You know, you can go home now. I can take it from here.” She didn’t want to sidle him with her troubles. Besides, she didn’t want him to think that she was some weakling. She wanted to show this man that she was a capable woman.

      Ross scowled at her. “Not happening, baby.”

      Zach didn’t give them a sideway glance when he walked past them. He went to her kitchen, and started opening the cupboard. “You want coffee, beautiful?” he asked them.

      “Yes, please.” She said.

      “A cup of coffee, with two cubes of sugar and a teaspoon of creamer, coming right up,” Zach recited.

      “How about you, Colonel? How do you want yours?” Zach asked Ross.

      Ross looked at him through slit eyes. “Make it black, no sugar.”

      Zia opened her mouth to say something to Ross, when he interrupted her. “No. I’m staying. That’s final.” She was about to argue when he turned his back on her and went to the living room, then brusquely sat on her favorite love seat.

      “He’s right, Zia. He needs to be here. He’s the one who knocked the i***t out. That’s on him. Not you,” Zach explained, bringing a tray with three cups of coffee on the small table. He sat down on the sofa opposite the love seat. She was about to sit beside Zach when Ross pulled her to him, sitting her on his lap.

      “What are you doing?” she reprimanded. She tried to stand up, but Ross just firmly put his arms around her, not allowing her to move away.

      “Stay,” he rumbled. What is she? A dog. She glared at him. He just raised his eyebrow at her, challenging her. She huffed. He smirked.

      Zach laughed at them. “This is fun.”

      Zia turned her glared to him. His grin never faltered, seemingly unaffected.

      “So Zia, what’s your relation with Colonel?” Zach looked at how Ross was intimately holding her. Well, she didn’t know the answer to that. For three months, she was invisible to him. Now, she was sitting on his lap.

      “He’s my—” she started.

      “Boyfriend.” Ross cut her off.

      “You are?” She asked incredulously. When did that ever happen? She tried to rewind all that happened tonight.

      “I am your boyfriend,” he confirmed. Now what? He’s her boyfriend. What will be next? He kept surprising her.

      Zia looked at Zach, who was now comfortably leaning on the sofa with his arms at the back of it. “He’s not my boyfriend. I’m invisible to him until tonight,” she said, convincing him. Zach would surely tell this to her parents. He and her parents were friends. They were going to bombard her again about getting married and grandchildren.

      “We kissed,” Ross reminded her.

      “But that’s not—” He kissed her on lips, stopping whatever she was going to say.

      “I’m your boyfriend, okay?” He said calmly. He kissed her again, then, moved away his head a little, waiting for her answer.

      “Okay,” she agreed softly. She would probably agree to whatever he asked her to do, if he kept on kissing her. Ross grinned, satisfied.

      Zach coughed. “Okay, kids. Let’s start.” He pulled his small notebook and pen from inside his jacket. “I know you two want to catch some sleep. I'll make this quick.”

      He looked at her pointedly. “You first, beautiful.”  Beautiful? He had called her that thrice tonight. Zach never called her beautiful. Ever. Since she ever met him.

      Ross growled behind her. She looked at him. He was glaring at Zach. What’s his problem? He was acting weird.

      “Zia?” Zach was now leaning towards them, his arms were on his knees. His face was serious. He was now in police mode.

      “Ahm, where do I start?”

      Zach smiled patiently at her. “How about you start with your relation with Mark? How do you know him? Ah, what’s his full name?”

      “It’s Mark Cheng. He’s my previous client. I renovated his condo unit in the city. That wa—”

      Ross cut her off. “You’ve been at his place?”

      “I’m with Chris.” Zia frowned at him, then looked back at Zach again. “Chris is my friend, and my business partner. I—”

      “Chris? The gay friend?” Ross interrupted her again.

      “Yes,” she said, getting annoyed. “So yeah, uhm, I had finished renovating his place one week ago. Then, tonight I had a date with him. I—”

      “You what? He was your date? You agreed dating that i***t. Well, you shouldn’t be dating anyone, for that matter. You’re mine.” Ross barked. She closed her eyes. I’m his?

      Zach glowered at Ross. “I thought you’re her boyfriend? Why was she out, dating other man?”

      “If I had known some other man was making a move on what’s mine, do you think I’ll allow that?” Ross answered back. “I’m going to have a word with Mac,” he muttered. Who is Mac?

      “You have someone watching over her? May I ask why?” Zach asked curiously. Zia frowned, then looked at Ross. She also wanted to know the answer to that.

      “That’s none of your business,” Ross rumbled.

      “It’s my business. I’m her guardian.” Zac argued. A guardian? She’s twenty-three years old. She didn’t need a guardian. Besides, Zach’s only a few years older than her. “She’s my responsibility. I need to know everything that has something to do with her. So, I can protect her. From Cheng. From you. From any men.”

      “She’s not your responsibility. Not anymore. She’s mine now. And I’ll protect what’s mine.” Ross said with conviction.

      “Hey! I’m here. Why are you two talking about my being as if I’m not here? I don’t need the two of you, looking out for me. I can perfectly protect myself. Thank you very much,” she said in just one breath.

      The two men didn’t give her any attention. They just continued silently staring back at each other, communicating with their eyes. She rolled her eyes. Here we go again.

      “Okay. You watched out for her.” Zach conceded.

      “No need to tell me that.”

      “Let’s continue, Zia,” Zach encouraged. “And Ross, if you keep interrupting, I’m going to have to send you out. We’re all going to be here ‘til morning if you keep doing that,” Zach chastised.

      Ross opened his mouth to argue. “Ross…” she said his name softly, then touched his hand that was holding her waist. Surprisingly, he kept quiet. He put his head on her right shoulder. “Sorry.”

      Zac looked at Ross as if he had grown two heads. Then, he smirked knowingly, “Interesting.”

      “My sister and Chris had set me up on this date. If I’d known it was Mark. I would not have come. He always gives me creeps,” she continued. “You know, he gives me this kind of bad vibes. He always looks at me strangely. Then, earlier this night, when he insisted to drive me home, he t-touched me inappropriately, h-he groped me on m-my...” she motioned her breast.

      “That fuc—i***t. I should have killed him,” Ross exploded.

      Zach agreed darkly, “I’ll let you, after I’m done with him.”

      Zia bit her lip, touched by their concern. “I slapped him, and went inside the house. I immediately locked my door. I’m afraid he was going to do something worse.”

      Ross arms tightened around her.

      “Good girl,” Zach appraised.

      “I didn’t know that he’s going to come back tonight. Someone rang the door bell. And I’m not expecting anyone so I thought it might be an emergency. I immediately I opened the door…”

      “Fuc—Dammit! You didn’t look at the peephole. That’s so stupid, Zia!” Ross shouted.

      Her eyes became teary. She didn’t like it when his anger was directed at her. Her chin wobbled. “I-I know what I’d done was stupid. I realized that now. I know that if I had just looked first on the peephole, I wouldn’t have opened the door. I would have pretended that I was asleep already. H-he wouldn’t have tried to force himself on me. He wouldn’t have tried to k-kiss me. H-he wouldn’t have grinded h-his, you know…” she wiped her tears away, finally dawning the shock of what would have happened to her, if Ross hadn’t come. “If you hadn't come, h-he would have r-r***d me…” She shuddered.

      “s**t!” Ross hugged her sideways on her chest. He kissed her head. “I’m sorry. Don’t cry, baby...” he whispered, rubbing her back tenderly, and wiping the tears on her eyes with his pad of his thumb.

      Zia frowned at him. “Why are you saying sorry? You saved me. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone to that date in the first place. I don’t even like dating. I just went there tonight because I’m trying to forget about you—” she gasped and covered her mouth with her two hands. Her cheeks flushed.

      Ross’ lips tightened, trying not to smile. He dabbed her wet cheek with his thumb. Then, he kissed her nose sweetly.

      Zach coughed, trying to get their attention. “Okay, I think I’ve got all I need. I’m going to file restraining order against him tomorrow. It’s just precaution, in case he tried to come near you again. I’ll come back here tomorrow for the papers you need to sign.” He stood up. “Don’t worry about Mr.Cheng, Zia. I’ll handle him.” He fixed his eyes at Ross. “Have to go, man. I feel like I need to go to the gym after this. My muscles are aching. I feel like they need stretching, you know. Wanna go with me, Colonel?” There was some underlying message in his tone.

      “Yeah. I’ll go. I need to take care of Zia first.” Ross said very calmly. Zach clapped Ross’ shoulder and nodded at Zia. Then, he proceeded to the door. “I’ll see my way out.”

      Zia squeezed his arm, to get his attention. “Don’t worry about me, Ross. I’m fine.”

      Ross gave her a peck on the lips. “You come first. Always.” Then, he stood up and effortlessly lifted her with his right arm under her knees, and the other at her back. She instinctively put her arms around his neck. Their faces were just an inch apart. He looked at her lips, then at her eyes. “You need to rest. Where’s your room, baby?” he murmured.

      “Upstairs. The first door to the left.”

      He started walking to the direction she gave. She bit her lip, wanting to ask him something. He looked down at her, noticing her hesitation.

      “You can ask me anything. In fact, you can tell me everything that’s running on your mind,” he said encouragingly.

      “Uhm, will you stay? Here?” she pleaded. “I know your house is just a few feet away, but… but I feel safe when you’re close by. After all that happened tonight…” she babbled.

      “I’ll stay,” he said firmly.

      “Promise?” she asked hopefully.

      “Promise,” he confirmed.

      “Thank you.”

      “No need to thank me, beautiful.” Then, he stole a kiss.

      He carried her to her bedroom. “You want a shower?”

      “A bath,” she said in soft voice.

      He went inside the bathroom and gently deposited her on the counter. He walked towards the bath tub, then filled it with water.

      “You don’t need to do that. I can do that myself.”

      He smiled at her. “I don’t need to. But, I want to. From now on, I’ll be taking care of you.” He caressed her jaw with his knuckles.

      “Why? You don’t know me,” she said, confused.

      “I know you, Zia. I know a lot about you.” There was something in his voice. He moved between her legs.

      Although, he was sitting on the counter, he was still much taller than her.

      “But you never notice me before. You never even look at me.”

      “Oh, I always look, baby.” He put his right hand on the side of her neck, then started caressing her skin with his thumb. “More than you’ll ever know.”

      Her heart started to beat fast. He could probably feel the fast thumping of her pulse on her neck. His other hand started caressing her arm.

      He lowered his gaze at her lips, then touched her lower lip with his thumb. There was heat now in his eyes. Is he going to kiss her again? She felt giddy with the idea.

      “You know Zach?” he asked instead.

      “Huh?”

      “Zachary Lopez, you know him?”

      “Yeah.” Well, who doesn’t? He’s the Chief of Police, after all.

      “How much do you know him?” She frowned. “He seemed familiar with your kitchen, and your coffee.” Where’s this conversation going?

      “He always stops by here. To check on me.” She shrugged.

      He stared keenly at her. “You like him.”

      “Yeah.” Why are they talking about Zach? She so much preferred him kissing her.

      “How much do you like him?” Ross’ eyes averted from looking at her.

      Zia looked at him, really looked at him. There was a frown on his forehead, his eyes were staring blankly at one point on the wall at her back. His jaw was ticking. His hands were now closed into fists beside her thighs on the counter, the knuckles were turning white. Something dawned on her. Is he jealous? Of Zach?

      As much as she liked to rile some more reactions from him, now that she learned that she was not really invisible to him, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to lie to him. “Yeah. I like him.” Ross stilled. “As a friend. He always check on me and my sister here, since our parents are both staying in Manila. Mama and papa are friends with him,” she explained.

      “So you don’t like him? Like ‘like’ him?”

      “No. Not that ‘like’ him.” She and Zach? “Eww. He’s like a brother to me.” Sure, Zach’s good-looking and hot as hell, not as hot as the man in front of her, but she never looked at him like someone she could be dating. She shuddered by that idea.

      Ross looked directly in her eyes. He nodded. He seemed satisfied with her answer.

      “So, what do you put in the tub when you bathe,’ he asked out of nowhere.

      “Bath salt.”

      “Where is it?”

      “Huh?” His touch was distracting her brain from functioning.

      He smiled. “The bath salt, baby.”

      “Uhm… inside the cabinet?” Now, he was grinning.

      He tentatively moved away from her. He opened the cabinet, then stared at the contents with baffled expression. There were tubs of creams, moisturizers, bottles of lotions and other feminine stuffs inside.

      She smiled. Such a guy. “The pink bottle at the left,” she said helpfully.

      “This smells like you,” he commented, smelling the bottle he was holding.

      “Huh?”

      “You always smell like roses. Just like this one.” He smelled the bottle again. “I like it.”

      She felt giddy. She jumped down from the counter to hide her flustered face. She walked to the tub to turn off the faucet, and pour some bath salt. Then, she pinned her hair up with some sticks she’d got.

      “How do you do that?” She looked back at Ross who was now staring at her hair.

      Really, he’s so cute. “Magic.”

      “I like it more when your hair’s down.” She blushed, turning her back at him.

      “Seems like you like a lot about me.”

      “More than you ever know,” he murmured.

      Zia was about to undress when she remembered she was not alone. She looked at Ross on her shoulder. “Do you mind, mister?”

      “No, I don’t mind. Not at all,” he said with heated gaze.

      She laughed. “I think you should wait outside.”

      “I’d rather stay here.” He was getting aroused. She could see that by the noticeable bulge in his pants. She blushed. She realized now that for the first time she was alone with a man inside her bathroom. It felt intimate.

      They stared back at each other. She could feel the electric charges going around them. God! She was also getting aroused. She could feel her core becoming wet. She squeezed her thighs to alleviate the tension there. He looked downward, noticing her movement. His gaze returned back to her. He took a step towards her.

      “Please…,” she whispered.

      “Please, what, baby?” Another step.

      “Please go… outside,” she almost choked. As much as she liked him and his kisses, she was not yet ready for that. They just became a couple a few minutes ago. She couldn’t take that step yet. She had to think about this first, whatever ‘this’ was between them.

      Ross stopped walking towards her. Zia looked at his face, gauging his reaction. It had no expression. There’s still heat in his eyes, though. But, there was also a little bit of frustration.  He nodded, understanding her hesitation, then walked out of the bathroom quietly.

      He's not going to stay. She sighed heavily.